Volume 52 (9): 1191-1197, 2004 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. Growth Hormone and Epidermal Growth Factor in Salivary Glands of Giant and Dwarf Transgenic Mice
School of Dentistry, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia (WGY,GOR-Y,TJD,JRS); Edison Biotechnology Institute, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio (KTC,JJK); and School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia (MJW) Correspondence to: German Ramirez-Yañez, Oral Biology and Pathology, School of Dentistry, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia. E-mail: g.ramirez{at}mailbox.uq.edu.au
Epidermal growth factor (EGF) in rat salivary glands is regulated by testosterone, thyroxin, and growth hormone (GH). Salivary glands of 45-day-old giant and dwarf male and female transgenic mice were examined histologically and by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for EGF. Male giants showed no significant differences from wild-type (WT) parotid and submandibular glands. However, their sublingual glands expressed EGF diffusely and strongly in granular cells within the striated ducts, where they were not found in WT mice. Submandibular gland ducts of female WT were different, having individual granular cells strongly positive for EGF and distributed sporadically along the striated duct walls. Neither female GH-antagonist dwarf mice nor GH-receptor knockout mice had any granular cells expressing EGF in any gland. Obvious presence of granular duct cells in the sublingual glands of giant male mice suggests GH-upregulated granular cell EGF expression. Furthermore, absence of granular duct cells from all glands in female GH-antagonist and GH-receptor knockout transgenic mice suggests that GH is necessary for the differentiation of the granular cell phenotype in female salivary glands. (J Histochem Cytochem 52:11911197, 2004)
Key Words: salivary glands growth hormone epidermal growth factor granular convoluted tubules
THE GRANULAR CONVOLUTED TUBULES (GCTs) of mouse salivary glands are the major site of epidermal growth factor (EGF) production (Beerstecher et al. 1988 The aim of this study was to determine if excess GH secretion in giant mice affects hypertrophy of the granular cell phenotype in the salivary glands. Conversely, competition of bovine growth hormone antagonist with endogenous GH in the GH-antagonist dwarf mouse would induce failure of granular cell development in striated ducts. Moreover, absence of growth hormone receptor (GHr) in GHr-deleted dwarf mice would result in absence of the granular cell phenotype.
Animals Giant growth hormone excess mice (GHXs) overexpress a bovine growth hormone (bGH) transgene under the control of a mouse metallothionein-I (MT) promoter, MT-bGH. Background is Bb/SJL (Palmiter et al. 1982
Dwarf antagonist mice (GHAnt) overexpress a mutant bovine growth hormone GH antagonist in which a lysine is substituted for glycine 119 (bGH-G119K). Background is C57Bl/b5 (Chen et al. 1997
Dwarf growth hormone receptor knockout mice (GHr KO) are homozygous for a gene deletion of the receptor gene created by insertion of a neo cassette into exon four. Background is C57Bl/b5 (Zhou et al. 1997
Wild-type, control, or heterozygote littermates of these transgenic models of GH action were used for comparison with the above treatment groups (Kopchick et al. 1999
Generation of Mice All animal experimentation was carried out in accordance with National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia guidelines and was approved by the University of Queensland Animal Ethics Committee. The study was undertaken on the following groups of mice; from giant mice litters, at least 12 animals, three male and three female WT littermates; from GH antagonist mice litters, at least 12 animals, three male and three female GHAnt mice and and three male and three female WT littermates; from Gh receptor knockout mice litters, at least 18 animals, three male and three female honozygous GHR-KO mice and three male and three female WT littermates.
Tissue Preparation
To differentiate the acinar and ductal elements of the mouse submandibular, sublingual (mucous), and parotid (serous) glands, PTAH stain was used (Lillie 1965
The expression of EGF in the salivary gland and specifically by the granular cell phenotype was studied by IHC employing an anti-EGF antibody (SIGMA E-2635; Sigma, St Louis, MO) diluted 1:100. Briefly, after deparaffinization, hydration, and washing in PBS, the sections were exposed to 3% hydrogen peroxidase for 15 min. Next, the sections were incubated with 1:10 swine serum (code x0901; Sigma) for 30 min to block nonspecific protein binding. After incubation, excess serum was blotted and the sections were incubated with the primary antibody for 90 min. Specificity of EGF staining was checked on negative control sections by omission of the primary antibody. After two 3-min washes with PBS containing 0.1% Triton (SIGMA T-9284), the sections were incubated with biotinylated secondary antibody (biotinylated swine anti-mouse, anti-rabbit, and anti-goat (DAKO LSAB-kit; DAKO, Carpinteria, CA) for 15 min. The sections were then rinsed in PBS containing 0.1% Triton and incubated with streptavidinperoxidase complex (DAKO LSAB-kit) for 15 min. The peroxidase activity was visualized with 3,3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB) solution for 3 min and counterstained with hematoxylin for 30 sec. Finally, sections were dehydrated through alcohol, cleared in xylene, and coverslipped.
Histological Evaluation
Sections stained for EGF by IHC were evaluated by conventional light microscopy to record the cellular expression of the stain and to give a qualitative estimate of the relative intensity of immunostaining in the duct cells. Grades assigned were , undetectable; +, weak; 2+, strong; or 34+, very strong. All sections of each animal were examined and graded, without knowledge of treatment by one of the authors (WGY). When the results of all glands from all animals in the study were complete, the codes were broken and the observations were compared among littermates and among treatment groups.
Histology Wild-type male mouse salivary glands showed no appreciable variations among the strains of mice in the differentiation of the several duct types. Their submandibular glands had extensive differentiation of GCTs and the adjacent striated ducts were readily identified. These components stained positively for EGF (Tables 13). In the sublingual (mucous) and parotid (serous) glands (which lacked GCTs) the striated ducts stained consistently for EGF.
The male pattern of the GCT differs from the female pattern of GCT in the distribution of granular cell phenotypes. In all male mice, granular cells that lined the GCT were uniformly granular and contiguous. Their granules were strongly eosinophilic and stained red or blue with PTHA (Figure 1A). WT female mouse salivary glands showed no appreciable differences among the strains from the female pattern of distribution of granular duct cells. In controls, granular cells were found in discrete groups or singly along the lining of the striated ducts in the submandibular gland (Figure 1B). Whereas the cytoplasm of the striated duct cells stained diffusely for EGF, the granular cell granules stained more intensely by IHC. However, such intensely stained granular cells were not normally found in the duct lining cells of the striated ducts of the sublingual (mucous) glands or in the parotid (serous) glands. The contents of capillary blood vessels were also EGF-positive. No histological differences were discriminated in the salivary glands between the WT and their heterozygous littermates bearing the knockout gene in both male and female animals, nor was the intensity of EGF staining appreciably different among the littermates of the same sex. Female heterozygotes exhibited the same groupings of the phenotypic granular cells positive for EGF as the WT in the submandibular glands. The male giant (GHXs) mice submandibular glands exhibited the male pattern of GCTs with abundant eosinophilic and blue granules with PTAH (Figure 1A). No quantifiable differences from the WT pattern were appreciated in sections stained for EGF by IHC. The sublingual (mucous) glands in male giant mice, however, were remarkable in that granular cell phenotypes were identified with H and E, PTAH, and EGF IHC (Figure 2A). This granular cell phenotype was not found in the sublingual glands of any of the wild strains nor in those of the heterozygote littermates of the KO strain (Figure 2B). Moreover, in the female giant mice this cell phenotype was absent from the striated ducts of the sublingual (mucous) glands in all animals. No instances of the granular cell phenotype were found in parotid gland striated ducts in any of the treatment groups. The male patterns of GCT in the salivary glands of GHAnt dwarf mice were not appreciably different from those of their WT littermates, although the glands were approximately one third of normal size. In contrast, in female dwarf GHAnt mice the granular cell phenotype was absent from the striated ducts of the submandibular glands (Figure 3A), nor were granular cells identified in their sublingual or parotid glands. EGF was only weakly expressed throughout the striated ducts in all glands of GHAnt mice (Table 3). Although the salivary glands of the male homozygous GHr KO mice were about one third the size of their WT and heterozygous littermates, the GCTs were normal and of the normal male pattern. Similarly, the granular cells were eosinophilic with H and E, had red and purple granules in PTAH, and stained strongly for EGF. Striated ducts were readily identifiable in the submandibular, sublingual, and parotid glands, and these ducts were stained diffusely for EGF. No granular cells were found in the latter two glands. In contrast, in the submandibular salivary glands of the female homozygous GHr KO mice, the granular cell phenotype was absent in all of the glands examined (Figure 3B). Striated duct epithelium of all three gland types in GHr KO female mice stained uniformly weakly for EGF. No examples of the granular cell phenotype positive for EGF were found.
At 45 days, mouse salivary glands have virtually completed their postnatal histodifferentiation into the highly specialized cells of acini, myoepithelium, GCTs, striated ducts, and excretory ducts (Navia 1977
Suggesting that GH may have an effect on differentiation of the granular cell phenotype was the finding of granular cells in the striated ducts of the sublingual (mucous) glands of giant male mice. This cell phenotype was not found in sublingual glands of WT littermates or in those of the other genetically modified groups. In other studies, occasional cells of the granular cell phenotype have been described in sublingual glands, positive for EGF (Gresik and Barka 1983 In this context, it would be of interest to determine the distribution of growth hormone receptor in the ducts of the three types of mouse salivary gland. If GH does not affect the salivary glands directly through its receptor on target cells, its effect may be indirect through trophic effects on the thyroid glands and possibly on the adrenal cortices or the gonads in males, all of which have strong influences on differentiation of the granular cell phenotype in rodents.
One reason why the absence of GH receptor failed to influence the differentiation of GCTs in either male GHAnt or GHr KO mice is presumably that androgens overcome the lack of growth hormone in the antagonist state, and that GH receptor is not a prerequisite for the androgen effect. Castration of male rats decreases EGF to the same level as that of intact females (Gresik and Barka 1977
EGF was constitutively expressed by the striated duct lining epithelial cells in all glands in all treatments. GH appears to have its effect on the differentiation of granular cell phenotype in females. If GH controls differentiation of this phenotype and also upregulates the expression of EGF receptor (Ekberg et al. 1989
This study determines the effect of GH on the differentiation of the granular cell phenotype in the salivary glands concomitantly with EGF expression by these cells in three different GH transgenic mice models. The presence of granular duct cells in the sublingual glands of giant male mice, not normally present in WT mice, suggests that GH upregulates granular cell EGF expression. Furthermore, the absence of granular duct cells from all glands of female, GH antagonist, and GH receptor knockout transgenic mice suggests that GH is necessary for the differentiation of the granular cell phenotype in female mouse salivary glands.
Received for publication February 22, 2004; accepted April 29, 2004
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